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Starting a Digitization Program: the FDU Experience. Brigid Burke Technical Services & Digital Projects Librarian Fairleigh Dickinson University. FDU Library. 300,000 Books 500 Maps Special collections: 5,000 items in Madison Archives (not including Sammartino Archives)
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Starting a Digitization Program: the FDU Experience Brigid Burke Technical Services & Digital Projects Librarian Fairleigh Dickinson University
FDU Library • 300,000 Books • 500 Maps • Special collections: • 5,000 items in Madison Archives (not including Sammartino Archives) • 7,000 items in Hackensack Archives
Started From Scratch • No organized digital projects • Canon scanner and Photoshop • No server for digital projects • No budget for digital projects • No staff (except for me)
First Concerns • Money, money, money • Who is interested in our collections? • In house or outsource? • Where are we going to put it?
Money • Small projects can be done in house: • 100 pages of text, 100 images, or less • Text, photo, or audio sources • Size of text/photos cannot be greater than 8 ½” x 11” • Larger projects require grant funding
Who is Interested? • Talk to University Advancement office—deal with privately funded grants, alumni donations. • Talk to Alumni Association, Friends of the Library, other interested groups. • Find out what archival materials are being requested from Reference and Archives staff. • Think about the history of your library, your materials, your university or town.
Grant-Writing Tips • Keep it small, focused, and measurable • Read the grant guidelines carefully • Look at samples of grants from previous recipients • Basic parts of a grant: • State your objective clearly • State why it’s important • Provide a reasonable budget • Provide a mechanism for determining if you’ve met your objective
Where to Put Everything? • The FDU Library opted to purchase Content dm software, licensing, and hosting from OCLC. Other options: • In-house only database • Your university (or library or municipality)’s web server • Purchase web server space • Cloud computing services
What Do I Really Need? • A scanner • A program for editing scanned images • Software for converting podcasts or other sound files to MP3s • PDF creator and editor • Computer storage space
Keep It Simple • Start with small projects • Simple metadata (DC is easiest and most flexible) • Finish one project before starting another • Test project? • Look to current digitization articles and best practices sites for guidance
Some Software Options • Picasa3 (Photos) : http://picasa.google.com/ • Picnik (Photos) : http://www.picnik.com/ • Audacity (Sound Files) : http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ • Switch Sound File Converter (Sound Files) : http://www.nch.com.au/switch/ • CT Developing (PDF creation/editing) : http://www.ctdeveloping.com/ctdeveloping/products/pdftypewriter_info.asp
Software Options • Dspace, Greenstone, ePrints (Repository software) : http://www.dspace.org/ http://www.greenstone.org/ http://www.eprints.org/ • WordPress (interface and hosting options) http://wordpress.org/
Best Practices Resources • Penn State : http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/digipres/bestpractices.html#internet • Washington State Library: http://digitalwa.statelib.wa.gov/newsite/projectmgmt/index.htm
Collaboratives & Other Options • LYRASIS Mass Digitization Collaborative (ends January 2011) http://www.lyrasis.org/Products-and-Services/Digital-Services/Mass-Digitization-Collaborative.aspx • NJ Digital Highway http://www.njdigitalhighway.org • DASH (eBrary) http://www.ebrary.com/kb/librarian/dash.jsp